SKETCHES OF WILD ORCHIDS IN GUIANA. 
41 
expect too much of me, I will add that the showiness of any 
particular species is but a small merit in my eyes. I have spent 
many more hours and much more thought over what I over¬ 
heard a very famous English horticulturist, a few weeks ago, 
at one of the shows in the Drill Hall, refer to as “ rubbish, or, 
as we will call them, ‘botanical curiosities,’” than over the 
more showy plants. And, though to admit this is probably to 
destroy my own character for sanity, I am firmly convinced that 
the rational being would get far more delight out of the 
marvellous diversities and marvellous adaptations of some of my 
tiniest Orchids than out of the most splendid flower which, as 
the West Indian negro says, “fills the eye.” But I promise 
that I will not here draw upon my experiences of the more 
minute aspects of Orchid life except in so far as this may be 
made to serve the purpose which I have in view in this paper of 
illustrating the natural conditions under which Orchids grow in 
Guiana. 
The usual idea of the inexperienced is that Guiana is a land 
of Orchids ; and so it is, but not of showy Orchids. It is doubt¬ 
ful if there exist in British Guiana a dozen different Orchids 
which the ordinary Orchid grower would care to have in his 
houses. Let me try what sort of list I can put together of the 
so-called desirable species. I should myself be inclined to put 
Oncidium lanceanum first for three reasons : (1) because it is 
a fairly common and accessible Orchid ; (2) because of the great 
beauty both of plant and flower; and (3) because of the lasting 
quality of the flower. Then the two Cattleyas ( C . superba and 
C. Laivrenciana ) would come, though neither is easy to get; 
Zygopetalum rostratum —one of the commonest Orchids of the 
country—certainly merits a place ; Zygopetalum venus turn and 
Z. Burkei also come in ; as does Paphinia cristata, Ionopsis 
paniculata, Bodriguezia (Burlingtonia) Candida , and perhaps 
Catasetum longifolium. I doubt if there are any other 
“ Gardener’s Orchids ” in British Guiana. And yet the number 
of species from Guiana to which I have devoted some attention is 
nearly 300, and many of these are very beautiful things even 
without the use of the microscope. 
It may be well here to premise that the part of Guiana to 
which I shall refer lies entirely between 7 and 8 degrees N. of 
the Equator, and that, though the country does rise to a greater 
